Living gently, lovingly, joyously.

Quick Stuffed Cabbage

What do you make for dinner when you don’t really want to cook and the only fresh ingredient you have is cabbage? Make what I call ‘Cheater’s Stuffed Cabbage’: All you need is some tinned tomatoes, dry lentils and some seasoning. And some cabbage of course! It’s vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free.

How to

In the bottom of a steamer pot, dump a can of tomatoes, with an approximate amount of lentils (I probably use about 1 1/2-2 C dry), some seasonings and a bit of water. This is all inexact. It is meant to be. You don’t feel like cooking so you won’t feel like measuring either! The key is to just eye-up how much extra water to add and then go crazy throwing in some seasonings. I usually add a lot of cayenne pepper, about 1/2 tsp or so of veggie stock powder or a spoonful of yeast extract, and some black pepper. Then, sit back and let it cook for a while.

When the lentils are almost soft but still chewy, add some cabbage leaves to a steamer tier above and walk away again.

When the leaves are soft and the lentils cooked, spoon into the cabbage leaves and create little boats. I do not bother wrapping them in a fancy way- especially with the small winter cabbage leaves. I close them by tucking the ‘stem’ part of the leaf into the top.

Bake in an oiled dish at medium heat for a while.

Change the seasonings, add some grains (rice, quinoa, etcetera), and use this as a staple no-effort meal!

This sounds good. I’ve been thinking of stuffed cabbage lately, I have a recipe around here (somewhere) called “unstuffed cabbage” where no rolling is involved, it’s just all thrown into a pot (cabbage shredded 1st). I’m going to have to find that and make it before winter’s over.